


A Very SlendFRO Christmas

by thegirlwhoknits



Series: Case File: San Jose [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Disciples of Judas, Other, SlendFRO, The Slenderman Field Research Organization has a Christmas Party, Victor is totally NOT a hairless cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-01-28
Packaged: 2018-05-16 21:11:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5841136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirlwhoknits/pseuds/thegirlwhoknits
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Secret Santa gift exchange was totally Nissa's idea.  What could be a better team-building exercise than the members of a paranormal research society giving each other totally harmless and well-thought-out presents?</p><p>Hey, what's that mysterious box under the tree that no one remembers putting there?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Very SlendFRO Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the first published record of the Slenderman Field Research Organization (aka SlendFRO). This story is based on the Twitter RP by myself, @Scarimonious, Leanne Fitzpatrick, and Naomi Clark. You can find more information on the characters [here](https://www.pinterest.com/acarendt/slendfro-cast/) and follow them on Twitter as follows:
> 
> Adam: @SlendFRO  
> Alex: @doj_wny  
> Dawson: @DawDawGabor  
> Ian: @HotRelicHunter  
> Nissa: @NissaPops  
> Celia doesn't have a Twitter because she shorts out technology, and Father Crane can barely figure out his cell phone.
> 
> Father Crane also appears in Naomi's books: [Demonized](http://www.amazon.com/Demonized-Naomi-Clark-ebook/dp/B004PYDO0U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454003612&sr=8-1&keywords=Demonized+Naomi+Clark) and [Undertow](http://www.amazon.com/Undertow-Ethan-Banning-Naomi-Clark-ebook/dp/B00N0A0UUW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454002603&sr=8-1&keywords=Undertow+Naomi+Clark).
> 
> The Disciples of Judas appear in many of my other stories, and I have an upcoming SlendFRO/Teen Wolf crossover fic planned.

**Adam**

The Secret Santa exchange was Nissa’s idea, like most “team-building” activities the members of SlendFRO reluctantly suffered through. The idea to include Victor in the drawing was Adam’s, and he was currently regretting that with every fiber of his being.

The _tulpa_ didn’t seem to grasp the concept of Christmas, or of gift-giving in general. After the team had drawn names, Victor and Adam’s AmEx disappeared for a roughly concurrent period of time. When they reappeared, Victor sported a new collar and smelled faintly of lavender, but no present for his giftee—Nissa—was in evidence.

Adam had sighed, reclaimed his credit card, and purchased some potted tulips for Nissa along with his own gift for Father Crane. It was a week before Christmas, both presents were ready to be put under the tree, everything was fine.

Naturally, that was when he started to overthink things.

Seven days ago, the novelty “What Would Jesus Do?” mug for Father Crane had seemed charmingly whimsical. Now it seemed like the stupidest idea ever. What if he was offended by it? Would he take it as a criticism of his moral choices? Did he even _drink_ coffee?

He decided to trash the mug and give Crane the tulips instead. Which resulted in his current predicament: panic-shopping for a gift for Nissa at ten o’clock on Christmas Eve, in rural Western New York.

The isolated location of SlendFRO headquarters was usually a good thing, especially when one had to contain the effects of ill-advised magical experiments. But after visiting every strip mall in a twenty-mile radius, he was starting to wish for a more urban setting. Who would notice a little pixie infestation in West Buffalo, after all?

Even Lenny’s Pizza, where they had a tab and a dedicated delivery person, was closed. Luckily the gas station next to it was open, because the Miata’s tank had just hit “E”.  As Adam pumped gas and wracked his brain, his gaze fell on the neon sign of the 24-hour mini mart, and inspiration hit.

Nissa practically lived out of her crappy Honda, so what better place to find a gift for her than the gas station?

Adam grabbed a basket and went down the aisles, grabbing anything that looked remotely useful or entertaining: Lighters. Jerky and dried fruit for stake-outs. Bottled water, windshield wiper fluid, aspirin. Several air-fresheners in three different scents.

He got an extra-large coffee for himself, and picked up a one-hundred-dollar gas card at the register, flirting off-handedly with the pretty cashier. He made sure to slide his business card across with the signed receipt; you never knew where the next case would come from.

On a whim, he tossed the promotional keyring that came with the coffee into the bag of gifts as well.

 

**Dawson**

Dawson put the finishing touches on her present for Ian and sat back, humming.  She’d thought about giving him a bottle of whisky from her stash and having done with it, but this was _so_ much better.

It really was a lovely grimoire. She’d picked it up on a wendigo hunt—well, technically she’d looted it off a rival hunter’s corpse after the wendigo ate his liver.  It was still in good condition, though. You could hardly see the blood stains.

A scientist as heart, she didn’t use a lot of magic herself, so she couldn’t think of a better use for the book than as a gift for SlendFRO’s most proficient caster.  And if he happened to use the banishing ritual she’d ‘improved,’ and ended up scattered through a couple dimensions?

Well, that would just be a bonus.

 

**Celia and Nissa**

The sound of Nissa’s car rumbled across the parking lot just as Celia finished sticking a bow on her gift for Victor.  As soon as she’d drawn the cat’s—or as Adam insisted, the _tulpa_ ’s—name, she’d immediately thought of a half dozen things she could knit for him. The heating at SlendFRO headquarters was notoriously temperamental, and the winter cold couldn’t be comfortable for a hairless…not-a-cat.

When Nissa told her she’d gotten Adam’s name, they decided to give the two of them coordinating Christmas sweaters, although Nissa’s was store-bought, of course. She barely had the patience to finish a whole sentence, let alone a craft project.

Which, in Celia’s eyes, made Nissa’s seemingly endless patience with being her friend and de-facto assistant all the more remarkable. Especially when even an accidental brush of Celia’s skin against Nissa’s electronics would short them out. As SlendFRO’s communications specialist, Nissa was constantly attached to her cellphone and laptop, and thanks to Celia she’d gone through several of each.

So she’d prepared a surprise gift for her friend as well, with some help from her father’s corporate account.

 

**Nissa, Father Crane, Ian**

Nissa bounced excitedly into the common room of SlendFRO headquarters. She’d coerced the rest of the team into decorating a few days earlier, so the usual barren brick was covered in fake pine garlands and fairy lights.  She and Celia had done up the tree with homemade ornaments and popcorn-and-cranberry strands, and she’d even convinced Ian to set some magical lights twinkling among the branches. The result wouldn’t make it into _Better Homes and Gardens,_ but it was better than sitting in her car singing along to carols on the radio.

She set the wrapped sweaters on top of a large, plain box and went to go find Adam while Celia made some cocoa.

She found him in one of the downstairs workrooms, lecturing a bored-looking Victor.  “None of this would have happened if you’d taken your obligation seriously—” He broke off when she knocked on the doorframe, and flushed guiltily. “Oh, hi, Nissa. I was just… Is everyone here already?”

“Just me and Celia so far, but Alex texted to say she’s about fifteen minutes out. Dawson and Ian are probably competing for who can be the most fashionably late.” She looked at their leader more closely. “Are you okay? You look…tired.”

He looked like he hadn’t sleep at all, in fact, which was usually a bad sign. Adam had a tendency to latch on to weird obsessions that often ended in trouble for the team. The last time, he’d locked himself in a workroom for three days and they’d ended up with Victor, whom Adam swore was a _tulpa_ , a magical thought-form, that he’d conjured up.

Right now the _tulpa_ , who looked remarkably like a hairless cat, was calmly licking his back paw and ignoring their existence.

“Just excited about the party today!” Adam said with forced cheer. “I’ll be up in a minute, I just have to finish up my wrapping.” He gestured toward a lumpy bundle of Christmas paper on the workbench. It looked more like Victor’s handiwork than Adam’s.

“Oh…kay,” Nissa said doubtfully. “C’mon, Victor, I think Celia brought you a can of salmon.”

The _tulpa_ stood and stretched in a leisurely fashion, then padded silently after her, back upstairs.

 

**Gift Exchange**

Ian beat out Dawson for ‘most fashionably late’ by three and a half minutes, arriving at the same time as the pizza. In retaliation, she needled him into paying for it.

After grabbing food and being forced to accept a mug of Adam’s homemade egg nog, they arranged themselves in their customary positions on the various armchairs and sofas around the room. Nissa sat on the floor next to the presents and Victor, who batted halfheartedly at a piece of tinsel.  She peered at the label of the topmost present before tossing it to Alex.

Alex peeled back the navy-blue paper gingerly, then held up the hardcover underneath for everyone to see. “ _Advanced Sex Magick in the Hermetic Tradition_ by Ian Stirling. I’m sure this will be very educational.” She flipped it around to reveal a full-color pictures of Ian, which filled the whole back cover. “Thank you, Ian.”

“You’re welcome,” he said smugly, sipping his egg nog before gagging slightly and discreetly setting it aside. “Let me know if you need any help with the, ah…practical application.”

She grimaced and wedged the book between two couch cushions. “I’m sure I’ll manage.”

“Okay, this next one’s for Dawson, from…” Nissa examined the label. “Father Crane.”

“Oh thank God,” the cryptozoologist muttered under her breath as she caught the package. Inside was a pale green candle in a pretty jar. She sniffed at it delicately. “Bamboo and jasmine, nice! Thanks Crane.”

Ian opened his gift from Dawson and began examining the tome with an air of deep suspicion, while Nissa handed a shiny gold gift bag to Celia.  “Sorry, I’m not good at wrapping,” Alex told her.

Adam and Victor unwrapped their presents next; Adam put his sweater on immediately and then insisted on chasing the _tulpa_ down and shoving him into his. This effort was greeted with a lot of yowling but surprisingly little bloodshed. As soon as he was released, Victor clawed his way to the top of a bookcase and glared at all of them.

When everyone had settled down again, Nissa hefted the pot of tulips. “I’m not going to toss this one, but it’s for Father Crane, from Adam.”

Crane accepted them with a slightly anxious face, as if worried they might explode. Knowing Adam, it was valid fear. When they appeared to be perfectly ordinary tulips, a cautious smile crept over his face. “Thank you, Adam. I’ll put them in the church this Sunday.”

Adam beamed happily and thrust the messily wrapped box he’d brought upstairs at Nissa. “From Victor.”

She ripped off the paper and then sawed through several layers of tape with her pocket knife. She pulled the promotional keychain from the package with a raised eyebrow. “Thanks?” She glanced upward at the _tulpa_ , who had laid down on top of the bookshelf and begun licking his butt. A small pile of odds and ends gathered next to her as she pulled things out. “Oh, a gas card!”

Celia set aside the set of knitting needles she’d received from Alex and got up to haul a large UPS box out from behind the tree. “This one’s for you too, Niss.”

“Aww, thanks!” She opened the box eagerly and let out a high-pitched squeal. “Oh my God! There’s like, a half-dozen phones in here!”

Her friend grinned. “And four tablets, and two laptops. Consider it an advance apology for all the things I’m going to accidentally break in the next year.”

Nissa bounced to her feet and wrapped her in an enormous hug. “You didn’t have to do that! But they’re mine now and you can’t take them back.”

“Who’s that last one for?” Alex asked curiously, pointing at a black-wrapped package they hadn’t noticed before.

“I don’t know.” Nissa stared, then bent to look at it. “It’s addressed to all of us, but it doesn’t say who it’s from.” She folded back the inky paper carefully as everyone else stepped back a bit. Victor leapt down from his perch, making Celia jump. He padded over as Nissa cut through the tape and unfolded the flaps.

“Huh. More junk. I don’t suppose this one’s not from you too?” she asked the _tulpa_ , watching him sniff the cardboard curiously. He growled slightly in response and stalked away.

“What’s in it?” Alex asked. She leaned over the couch to get a better look. Now that it looked like nothing was going to explode, Adam, Celia, and Dawson edged closer too. Father Crane and Ian stayed where they were, looking wary and bored, respectively.

One by one, Nissa unpacked the items and laid them in a row on the threadbare rug. The first was a microchip encased in a petri dish, then a faded photograph showing a young man in a striped shirt and bell-bottomed jeans standing in front of a house. “1972” was scrawled across the back in pencil.

Alex crouched down and picked up the photo, passing it around to the other members before putting it back next to the petri dish. Celia peered at the next thing, a carefully laminated news article.

“It looks like a write-up of some kind of big party in the 1930s, but it’s only the first part of the story.” The other side was an advertisement for a department store.

Adam turned over a delicate woman’s wristwatch. The face was smashed, but engraved on the case were the initials “E.S.” Next to it, Nissa laid a hospital wristband, neatly cut and with a QR code on it.

Finally she pulled out the last item, a blue flash drive in a padded envelope, with a sticky note wrapped around it. “Not a clue, just some tunes for the road,” Nissa read. “It’s signed ‘M.’”

“Like, short for Emily?” Celia asked.

“No, just the letter, like in James Bond.”

“Well, whoever this ‘M’ is, she called all these things clues. So I guess that means we have a new case!” Adam said excitedly.

“Well, new case or not, it can wait ‘til after Christmas,” Nissa said firmly, packing everything up. “Time for Christmas carols!”

The sound of everyone’s groans covered up the chirp of Nissa’s phone. When she checked it later, she found one new message, from an unknown number.

_Hope you enjoyed your gift. Good luck. –M._

**Author's Note:**

> If you're interested in contributing to the SlendFRO universe, feel free to Tweet me @Vagabond_Ally!


End file.
